Oakvillians Make an Impact in Our Community

The Rotary Clubs of Oakville joined together for their 1st Annual Cluster Dinner and Oakville Rotary Paul Harris Fellowship Evening and Awards Ceremony. Held at the Oakville Conference Centre, the three Rotary Clubs of Oakville; the Rotary Club of Oakville, Rotary Club of Oakville Trafalgar and the Rotary Club of Oakville West, recognized six local non-Rotarian Oakville Citizens who have made a valued contribution to their community. Our youth were a focus throughout these Paul Harris Fellowship Awards presentations.

Paul Harris Fellowship recipient, Gord Cowan says “I truly believe that children are our future, and we need to do whatever we can to help them succeed”. Mr. Harris was co-founder of the Oakville Children’s Magical Christmas Party, helped to build the “Together for Kids” brand and was instrumental in developing an educational curriculum to help combat childhood obesity that has been implemented in schools; “Move It! Lose It! Live Healthy!”

Award Recipient, Julia Hanna says, “Family is whoever sits around the dinner table.” Julia is the founder of the HealthyFam Program, The Kids Culinary Community (KCC), The Seniors & Family Culinary Community and is the host of TV Cogeco’s “Return to the Table”. Julia also writes a monthly editorial focusing on helping readers build & sustain healthy relationships with food and is the proud owner of Ritorno & Ristorante Julia.

The Rotary Clubs of Oakville take the opportunity to honour these six non-Rotarians and to highlight some of the many accomplishments of these dedicated recipients of the Paul Harris Fellowship Awards Ceremony.

“It is not an over-statement to say that whenever you need Award Winner Tiffany Kummer she shows up with a smile on her face and stays to see the job done” Recipient of the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of the Child “TrailBlazer Award”, Tiffany is also a speaker at Queen’s Park advocating for Children’s Rights. An advocate to local MPPs, Tiffany wants to increase the age of children & youth leaving care & to express a more accurate reflection of what life is like growing up in care.

Award Winner Jennifer Neal continues to work with some of the original youth, now in their 50’s, that she helped 40 years ago. Jennifer is a dedicated educator and innovator. Leader of the popular Freebie Friday youth program at St. Hilda’s for years, she also established the first Drop-In Centre for teens at risk in Oakville; “The Prof’s Place” and developed a tutoring program to support learning needs of overseas students.

Linda Roberts, recipient of the Paul Harris Fellowship Award, says, “I am ‘on call’ to all my ‘families’ all year. They know they can call on me to help them out.” Linda has been a volunteer with Big Brother and Big Sisters, the Children’s Aid Society and Block Parents. She has given over 30 years of service to Trinity United Outreach Program, and is Coordinator of the Church Pantry providing services, daily needs, groceries and kindness to underprivileged families in the community.

Award recipient John Wannamaker is a dynamic businessman who gives back to the Oakville community through a number of charities and not-for-profits including Special Olympics Ontario-Oakville, Frank Zamuner-Swim for Mental Health, Mike Hamel-Camp Towhee, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Halton, Halton Women’s Place, Milton & Oakville Hospital Foundations, Halton Food for Thought, Stride, United Way of Oakville and Milton, Girl Guides Of Oakville, Darling Home for Kids, Home Sweet Hope and Scouts Canada-Oakville. John is a yearly supporter of the Boston Pizza Foundation “Valentine Pizza” event, raising funds for Heart & Stroke Foundation & Juvenile Diabetes Research. Be sure to pay a visit to Boston Pizza this month!

The key note speaker for the evening was Ron Denham, Past Chair of WASRAG, who spoke with passion about the Water and Sanitation Project for Northern Uganda that is presently being organized by the Rotary Club of Oakville Trafalgar and financially supported by the Rotary Club of Oakville and the Rotary Club of Oakville West. For information about Rotary Water and Sanitation Projects throughout the world can be found at www.wasrag.org

A Real Estate Broker with Royal LePage Real Estate Services on Lakeshore Road in Oakville, I have 25 years of helping clients realize their dreams, specializing in helping my clients buy and sell homes in the Oakville, Burlington, Hamilton, Ancaster, Dundas and the Grimsby areas. I love Oakville, its people and the exciting events I cover! My hobby, a passion, is taking pictures, writing articles and telling the world about the people, the businesses, the events, the places to visit and about this amazing Town - Oakville!